Photo by Guillaume Sylvain/The Gazelle

With fall semester looming on the horizon and people finalizing their study-abroad applications, The Gazelle sat down with a few NYU Abu Dhabi students to talk about their homestay experiences in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Al Ain and Amman.

Apart from the Ramsah program, which is held in Al Ain during January Term, homestays are organized and mandated by NYU New York. A contract laying out the conditions of the stay is signed by the two parties before the start of the semester. Students are given various options to choose from and can decide if they want to live with a family with younger children, with another study-abroad student and so on.

For the students who choose to do a homestay, the experience can vary depending on expectations, presuppositions and past experiences. Junior Yi Yi Yeap stayed with a host family during her semester in Madrid. Along with Yeap, there were three other girls from NYUNY. Yeap was pleased with the language-learning advantages of a homestay. Part of the contract states that the host family has to practice the language with the student.

“I always felt like I was ahead of the class,” Yeap said, speaking of how her host family provided her with a chance to use her language skills, which she otherwise would not have.

“If your Spanish isn’t advanced enough, it’s very difficult to communicate with locals,” continued Yeap.

The benefits of a homestay for language learning are commonly acknowledged. Senior Joey Bui studied abroad in Argentina for her spring semester in her sophomore year where she chose to live with an elderly woman in a homestay. Similar to Yeap, the highlight of Bui’s homestay was that the experience allowed her to practice Spanish. She went to Buenos Aires with limited knowledge of Spanish and four months later, she could hold full conversations.

Guillaume Sylvain, a junior who participated in two homestays in Al Ain, one as a student and another as a teaching assistant, commented that a homestay “feels like an incubator for learning. Language learning is boosted by the opportunity for use in daily life, best captured in the home environment.”

Some people enjoyed establishing relationships that they otherwise would not have.

“I’m an only child, so having a younger sister was really nice,” said Yeap, speaking of her 15-year-old host sister.

Homestay contracts are rigid in terms of interaction between the family and the student. Unlike students living in dorms or apartments, students opting for homestays do not have to do household chores.

“For one, they can’t ask us to do housework,” said Bui. “Part of the contract is that you’re not allowed to cook and they have to provide you breakfast and dinner.”

The homestay experience also offers an opportunity for cultural exploration. Living day in and day out with a local family in Madrid for four months provided Yeap with a chance to live immersed in a different language, a bigger family and a new place. “For me, it was my cultural connection,” Yeap remarked, recalling the times she and her host mother would watch Real Madrid playing Barcelona.

If students choose to go to Buenos Aires, there is no option to rent an apartment or opt for a dorm. Homestays can also be constraining or limiting for some people.

Loneliness is a factor that can come into play if one opts for a homestay. Since some placements are far away from the academic center, some students may not see their classmates as often as they would like to.

According to Bui, homestays can be hard for people who value space and privacy. Bui always had to alert her host mother about where she was going and when she was coming back.

“There is a trade-off between language practice and freedom,” said Bui, when asked if she would recommend that people do a homestay. “I’m not sure if I would recommend homestays if one has a choice.”

Yeap said that privacy was not an issue in her situation. She emphasized that every family is different and that one cannot prepare in advance.

Junior Moonie Sohn studied abroad in Jordan with the CIEE program and in Al Ain with the Ramsah program; both experiences were fairly different.

“I think there is luck involved with how comfortable or compatible you are with your family,” said Sohn. “It’s a risk — you never know how the family is going to welcome you.”

Sylvain explained that it is important to understand what you want from the experience as well as what the family expects of you as a guest.

“Homestays are a good experience because they make you realize [the] opportunities that we have,” said Sylvain.

Unlike orientations for study-abroad semesters where students choose to live in dorms, there is not much information provided to people going abroad for homestays. Yeap and Bui agreed that an orientation for homestays would be unnecessary as every situation is different.

Students find homestays with a particular focus — such as the Ramsah program in Al Ain — to be an all-round immersive experience. Semester-long homestays in Madrid, Buenos Aires or Jordan vary in quality. As students noted, the fruitfulness of a homestay experience often depends on individual circumstances. Nevertheless, homestays remain a unique alternative to college dorm life and can be suitable for some who are up for a different challenge, as well as an opportunity for unparalleled cultural, linguistic and personal learning.